Wednesday, September 30, 2020
From the time my mother, Anne Shpall Greenblatt died over 50 years ago, my cousin Shirley Ann (her Denver name--to distinguish her from Aunt Shirley Rosenburg or at least that's what my mother said) took on the role of family Matriarch. She made certain I always knew the important information about our large scattered Shpall family: who was born, who might be seriously ill, where everyone lived. She seemed to be able to remember the names of all the kids in this family that was proliferating at warp speed, all over the country, managing to stay connected to everyone.
One of my favorite memories is the story she told me about life as a small child in the tiny town of Capalene in the South Central mountains of Colorado. She always waited breathlessly for the train from Denver that arrived on Friday mornings. Mary Kupetz, her mom, would collect their weekly supply of kosher food and the week's collection of newspapers. For her lunch, Shirley Ann would have a lamb chop and 7 days worth of comic strips to read. Unfortunately, sometimes in the summer, the kosher meat was spoiled by the time it arrived. I suspect they ate plenty of fish.
I've always believed that Shirley was the most beautiful woman in this large, handsome family, in her beliefs, in her behavior as well as in her appearance, and she remained that way throughout her life. I miss her.
Syma
